Australia is having a later, but perhaps not late, influenza season.

Posted onSeptember 7, 2026September 7, 2026Leave a comment

A few quick graphs show that Australia’s flu season is active now; it’s later than it used to be, just after the pandemic’s peak, and is straying into early Spring Read More …

Context to headlines, even when the harms are there for all to see

Posted onSeptember 6, 2026September 6, 20262 Comments

Reporting can produce stories without raising anxiety levels within a community. This was a social media thread I accidentally deleted, but now it’s a post about what I mean, using Read More …

New Zealand is having an RSV moment

Posted onAugust 20, 2026August 20, 2026

There are a few concerning media stories of empty offices and schools in New Zealand due to respiratory illnesses – coughs and colds and “the flu”. So is #NZflu2026 in Read More …

During COVID-19, we smashed flu

Posted onAugust 1, 2026August 1, 2026

Seasonal influenza viruses (as shown in the image below) drive epidemics that rely on both year-round circulation in the tropics and air travel, using giant conveyor belts of virus distribution, Read More …

Virus on a boat – a belated graphic

Posted onJuly 13, 2026July 13, 2026

Remember when we all died from the pandemic that started on a cruise ship, caused by a passenger acquiring and spreading Orthohantavirus andesense? Me neither. That’s because we didn’t. And Read More …

There are a lot of people sick….again…in winter….

Posted onJune 28, 2026June 28, 2026

Yep. It’s a time of year in many parts of the world when viruses that love a warm human airway, kick it up a notch – influenza, respiratory syncytial virus Read More …

A/H5N1 strain of avian influenza A virus (“bird flu”) confirmed in two dead birds in Australia

Posted onJune 20, 2026June 24, 2026

Australia’s Minister for Agriculture has notified Australians that overnight laboratory testing confirmed the presence of A/H5N1 in one sick bird and an H5 virus in another, both found in the same region of Read More …

Digitally-colorized transmission electron microscopic image of Avian Influenza A H5N1 virus particles (seen in gold), grown in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells (seen in green). PHIL No. 1841

Well, the day had to come. “Bird flu” flies into Australia on a feathered wing.

Posted onJune 19, 2026June 20, 20262 Comments

Lock up the chooks! According to Australia’s national broadcaster, Western Australia (WA) is the site for the first importation to the Australian mainland – via a bird – of an Read More …

Looks like Flu has reset in Australia

Posted onJune 5, 2026September 7, 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a brand-new respiratory virus, SARS-CoV-2. With that introduction, as suspected, lots of things were thrown into disarray. One of those was the circulation of other respiratory Read More …

The ridiculously oversimplified claim that PCR can “detect one single molecule”

Posted onMay 26, 2026May 31, 20268 Comments

There’s so much more to these four words than is attributed to them, so I thought I’d better write that down instead of leaving it in my head. Here’s hoping Read More …

Just 0.7% of of universally screened asymptomatic patients produced unrepeatable PCR tests

Posted onMay 2, 2026May 5, 20262 Comments

A recent paper entitled “Diagnostic Value and Outcomes of Systematic SARS-CoV-2 Screening in Asymptomatic Patients” highlights the need for innovative contextual actions in response to positive PCR results during exceptional Read More …

A little virus that still can: poliovirus and poliomyelitis

Posted onMay 1, 2026May 1, 2026

A few things about poliomyelitis (‘polio’) and poliovirus, the enterovirus that causes this disease. What is Polio? Polio is the name used to describe a paralytic disease. It is caused Read More …

Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids?

Posted onApril 14, 2026April 20, 2026

Inspired by an online conversation and the hard work of others, I set off to examine age groupings among Australians confirmed as COVID-19 cases, based on testing using a quality-laboratory Read More …

Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections

Posted onMarch 5, 2026March 5, 2026

Data from a UK healthcare worker cohort published in 2024 examined how signs and symptoms of COVID-19 changed after 1, 2, or 3 SARS-CoV-2 lab-confirmed infections. Those with no symptoms Read More …

How are asymptomatic COVID-19 cases tracking?

Posted onMarch 2, 2026August 24, 2026

In the first year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, data were assembled that defined how the virus spread among us, who, at the time, had never been infected. But the world’s Read More …

Virology Down Under

Facts, data, info, expert opinion and a reasonable, occasionally grumpy, voice on viruses: what they are, how they tick and the illnesses they may cause.

Latest posts...

Australia is having a later, but perhaps not late, influenza season.

Context to headlines, even when the harms are there for all to see

During COVID-19, we smashed flu

Virus on a boat – a belated graphic

Australia is having a later, but perhaps not late, influenza season.

Context to headlines, even when the harms are there for all to see

New Zealand is having an RSV moment

During COVID-19, we smashed flu

Virus on a boat – a belated graphic

There are a lot of people sick….again…in winter….

A/H5N1 strain of avian influenza A virus (“bird flu”) confirmed in two dead birds in Australia

Well, the day had to come. “Bird flu” flies into Australia on a feathered wing.

Looks like Flu has reset in Australia

The ridiculously oversimplified claim that PCR can “detect one single molecule”

Just 0.7% of of universally screened asymptomatic patients produced unrepeatable PCR tests

A little virus that still can: poliovirus and poliomyelitis

Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids?

Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections

How are asymptomatic COVID-19 cases tracking?